Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Simon Owens @simonowens.bsky.social · 25m

In the 1990s, Kevin Costner became one of the most bankable actors, starring in hit after hit after hit, but then his career took a tumble when he became know for being difficult to work with. In the late 2010s, the show Yellowstone revived his stardom after it became the highest-rated drama on TV,

How Kevin Costner Lost Hollywood

On-set brawls. Courtroom battles. Epic bombs. Why the world's most bankable cowboy is suddenly shooting blanks.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

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Simon Owens @simonowens.bsky.social · 2h

Dear Krispy Kreme employees, I know you think you're being charming when you memorize our go-to donut orders, but all you're doing is shaming us.

I want you to pretend this is the first time you've met me.

Simon Owens @simonowens.bsky.social · 3h

Well, when you put it that way...

Simon Owens @simonowens.bsky.social · 3h

I can’t tell if Nvidia is engaging in a Ponzi scheme or a pyramid scheme by investing hundreds of billions of dollars into the very companies that buy its chips.

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Nvidia to Finance Musk’s xAI Chips as Part of $20 Billion Deal

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI is raising more financing than initially planned, tapping backers including Nvidia Corp. to lift its ongoing funding round to $20 billion, according to ...

www.bloomberg.com

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Simon Owens @simonowens.bsky.social · 14h

A striking number of Ivy League graduates end up in finance or management consulting, even though many had little interest in these fields when they first arrived on campus. This happens because firms like McKinsey begin recruiting early, often targeting students as freshmen and offering lucrative

How America’s elite colleges breed high-status careers—and misery

“They funneled the shit out of me.”

www.motherjones.com

Simon Owens @simonowens.bsky.social · 15h

Ukraine's ingenious use of drone warfare not only caught Russia by surprise, it also lit a fire under governments across the world, many of whom suddenly realized that their expensive defense technologies are no match for the asymmetric nimbleness of drones that can be deployed in high numbers at ve

How Canada Squandered Its Drone Lead | The Walrus

We slipped from pioneer to bystander, but the war in Ukraine is forcing a reboot

thewalrus.ca

Simon Owens @simonowens.bsky.social · 22h

Whatever your thoughts are on the Paramount acquisition of the Free Press, it does seem to be further validation of Substack's founding thesis: that there's a huge market for independent writing. When Substack was founded in 2017, it was already pretty common for independent YouTubers, podcasters, a

The home for media startups

There has never been a better time to start a media business

post.substack.com

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Simon Owens @simonowens.bsky.social · 1d

YouTube has seen a proliferation of "debate" shows in recent years where the point isn't to change anyone's mind on an issue, but rather to generate viral video clips that can spur outrage and engagement. Sometimes creators will go on a show where they know they'll be painted in a bad light simply b

‘I Became the Jubilee Girl’

Inside the debate show boom, where everyone’s arguing but no one’s really winning.

www.vulture.com

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Simon Owens @simonowens.bsky.social · 1d

There's an easy fix to this: whenever a PR person sends me a shitty pitch that isn't remotely relevant, I create a gmail filter that blocks all of their future emails. I also do this to PR people who send relentless follow up emails.

Nieman Lab @niemanlab.org · 1d

Kill it with fire: "A feature called 'Relentless Follow-up' automatically pesters journalists who have not replied to the emails."

pressgazette.co.uk/news/automat...

Automated PR tool is bombarding UK media with AI-generated content

'Olivia Brown' reads websites, writes press releases then 'relentlessly' sends emails.

pressgazette.co.uk

Simon Owens @simonowens.bsky.social · 1d

I increasingly feel like the genie is out of the bottle when it comes to AI-generated video, and Hollywood is just going to find itself embroiled in guerilla warfare when it comes to fighting it -- similar to its efforts in the late 2000s when it tried so hard to get movie and TV clips off YouTube.

Hollywood is Already Falling Behind on AI Video

The entertainment industry wants to avoid a repeat of what happened at the dawn of the internet.

www.bloomberg.com

Simon Owens @simonowens.bsky.social · 1d

Reddit once penalized publishers by banning domains that posted too many of their own links. Today, the platform has flipped its approach, encouraging publishers to launch dedicated Subreddits and build communities there. With Reddit gaining prominence in Google search results and increasingly feedi

Reddit is winning the AI game.

Since the site struck licensing deals with Google and OpenAI, its traffic—and its importance to legacy media outlets—has surged.

www.cjr.org

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Simon Owens @simonowens.bsky.social · 1d

Absolutely amazing how many fitness influencers on steroids give prescriptive advice on how people can look like them without mentioning the steroids. It’s like a baking influencer teaching you how to make a cake without ever mentioning the flour.

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Simon Owens @simonowens.bsky.social · 2d

The Coppell Chronicle has created a local news model that could probably replicated in every city and suburb across the US. It turns out audiences will pay if you give them vital information they can't get anywhere else.

simonowens.substack.com/p/this-local...

This local newsletter covering a Dallas suburb has the highest paid conversion rate on Substack

Dan Koller is often the only reporter covering government meetings in Coppell, Tx.

simonowens.substack.com

Simon Owens @simonowens.bsky.social · 2d

Who's taking bets on how long it take Bari Weiss to publish an open letter explaining why she's resigning from CBS News?

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Simon Owens @simonowens.bsky.social · 4d

There is no actor in Hollywood more talented at picking dogshit movies to star in than Mark Wahlberg. The guy is like a truffle pig for terrible scripts.

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Simon Owens @simonowens.bsky.social · 4d

Want some good weekend reading? I compiled the best longform journalism I consumed this week. I guarantee you there's something on this list you'll enjoy.

thelongstory.substack.com/p/the-best-l...

The best longform journalism we consumed this week

Welcome to The Long Story, the weekly newsletter where we curate the best longform journalism on the internet.

thelongstory.substack.com

Simon Owens @simonowens.bsky.social · 4d

Imagine if Democrats ran on defunding ICE just as fervently as Republicans ran on defunding the Education Department

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Simon Owens @simonowens.bsky.social · 4d

Institutional investors have poured hundreds of billions of dollars into building AI data centers, but it can be argued that we're all subsidizing the industry by being forced to pay higher power bills. The problem is compounded by the Trump Administration’s efforts to undercut renewable energy, lea

AI Data Centers Are Sending Power Bills Soaring

Wholesale electricity costs as much as 267% more than it did five years ago in areas near data centers. That’s being passed on to customers.

www.bloomberg.com

Simon Owens @simonowens.bsky.social · 5d

With Bari Weiss set to become the head of CBS News in the coming days, it's a good time to read this long deep dive into her history. While she's positioned herself as a disaffected liberal willing to embrace uncomfortable, heterodox truths, she's spent her entire career laundering conservative talk

Bari Weiss’s Remarkably Successful Shell Game

The Right's favorite reactionary centrist prepares to take over a major news organization.

jaymichaelson.substack.com

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Simon Owens @simonowens.bsky.social · 5d

Substack is Blogger, Beehiiv is Typepad/Moveable Type, Ghost is Wordpress/Drupal.

Prove me wrong.

Simon Owens @simonowens.bsky.social · 5d

The further we get from the 2023 actor and writer strikes, the more the studio concessions look like a pyrrhic victory. The strikes plunged Hollywood into a recession and opened the door for the Creator Economy to capture an even larger share of our entertainment diets. Meanwhile, thousands of Los A

L.A.’s Entertainment Economy Is Looking Like a Disaster Movie

Work is evaporating, businesses are closing, longtime residents are leaving, and Los Angeles’s creative middle class is hanging on by a thread.

www.wsj.com

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Simon Owens @simonowens.bsky.social · 5d

This would be the perfect time for a bunch of CBS News staffers to break off and launch their own worker-owned media cooperative. They’d be rewarded with a lot of free media attention.

www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Bari Weiss to be named top editor at CBS News

Paramount Skydance will acquire the journalist’s publication, the Free Press, which she started after quitting the New York Times in 2020.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Simon Owens @simonowens.bsky.social · 5d

Sorry to report this to you guys, but Threads has the juice. There's just an incredible amount of engagement that happens on there.

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Simon Owens @simonowens.bsky.social · 5d

Antibiotic-resistant infections are spreading rapidly on the Ukrainian frontlines. With medical staff and supplies in short supply, wounded soldiers often receive reduced doses of antibiotics. This underdosing creates the perfect conditions for bacteria to develop resistance, which then spreads qui

The pernicious infections infiltrating Ukraine’s front lines

Doctors and scientists are waging a shadow war in the besieged nation: bacteria that are resistant to multiple antibiotics. The deadly bugs are now knocking on western Europe’s door.

knowablemagazine.org

Simon Owens @simonowens.bsky.social · 5d

Stephen Starr became one of the most successful restaurateurs by fixating on interior design at a time when many restaurants were drab and uniform. He managed to attract elite A-listers without alienating normal diners. He recognized that people go to restaurants not just to enjoy good food, but als

The $400 Million Restaurant Man

www.nytimes.com